Tallon said Markstrom will be signed 'shortly'

July 13, 2013|By Harvey Fialkov, Sun Sentinel

Panthers GM Dale Tallon said on Friday after the last day of the weeklongdevelopment camp that he expects to sign goaltender Jacob Markstrom "shortly,'' while indicating there's no interest in re-signing free agent goalie Jose Theodore.

"We have Markstrom; we’re going to get signed here shortly,'' he said when asked about Theodore. "We got Clem and Houser. You could never have enough good goaltending. That’s going to work itself out. We'll see what happens.''

Tallon was referring to Scott Clemmensen, who turns 36 in 10 days and is coming off a poor season. Clemmensen is in the final year of his contract. He also referenced Michael Houser, 20, who is coming off an excellent season in the ECHL and is most likely headed to San Antonio for more experience.

Markstrom was tendered a qualifying offer last month so the Panthers held onto his rights and could match any team's offer sheet. A Swedish newspaper indicated that Markstrom turned down the offer and could be considering playing in the KHL. But that hasn't been confirmed. Markstrom apparently told them he's not changing his travel plans to South Florida in September.

When asked if their was any interest in retaining now free agent forward Peter Mueller, Tallon left the door open a crack.

"The door is open,'' he said. "We're still not done. We got almost three months before we drop the puck. We're going to take our time and be patient. We'll be ready when the season starts.''

Mueller, 25, wasn't tendered a qualifying offer and is now a free agent. If the Panthers did tender him, the five-year veteran could've sought arbitration which would've sent his salary over the Panthers proposed budget limits.